The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see
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The Marine Museum at Fall River is a cultural gem and contains a wealth of Fall River Maritime History especially Steam Ship and Titanic memorabilia. Discover the art, books, models and many treasures the Marine Museum holds. This is a must see resource for landlubbers and mariners alike.

Carol Gafford is a public librarian, family historian, amateur archivist and book savior. She is currently the youth services/outreach librarian at the Swansea Public Library and volunteers for several museum and historical societies including the Marine Museum at Fall River, the Swansea Historical Society and the Bristol Historical and Preservation society. She is the editor of Past Times, the Massachusetts Society of Genealogists and is always looking for a new project to take on.

The third major of the year gets underway this week, as the world’s best golfers descend on Royal Lytham & St. Annes to battle for the Claret Jug.

The Open Championship, first played in 1860, is very different from the PGA Tour’s three other majors, primarily because it is the only one not played in the U.S.

This historic tournament offers golfers and fans a different view of the sport. Do not expect to see lush fairways, towering trees, relatively flat greens and decent weather during this weekend’s coverage.

Instead, your favorite golfer will have to deal with super fast fairways, undulating greens, pot bunkers as far as the eye can see (there are more than 200 at Royal Lytham) and the always-present sideways rain.

I enjoy the Open Championship for the same reason Tiger Woods gave on SportsCenter Tuesday night. It forces many PGA Tour golfers out of their comfort zone and play a style of golf they are rarely exposed to: links golf. Rather than hitting a high fade from 150 yards out, they may need to hit a bump and run.

I also like this major because of the randomness of winners in recent years. At the other three majors, it’s a safe bet to expect that one of the world’s best will take the top spot. But not at the Open Championship.

In the last 10 years, aside from the two victories for Woods in 2005 and 2006 and the two for Padraig Harrington in 2007 and 2008, here is a list of the men who took home the Claret Jug:

2001: David Duval (Literally hasn’t done a substantial thing in golf after this year.)

2002: Ernie Else (Not so random.)

2003: Ben Curtis (Who?)

2004: Todd Hamilton (Seriously. Who?)

2009: Stewart Cink (Had to beat Tom Watson of all people. In a playoff.)

2010: Louis Oosthuizen (Never heard the name before his win.)

2011: Darren Clarke (Totally could have convinced me he was retired before this win.)

I’d like to think that the Open Championship is pretty much anyone’s for the taking, especially this year.

I still don’t think Tiger is fully back to major form.

McIlroy has lost a step compared to last year.

Phil will never win a British Open. Just accept it.

And if Lee Westwood hasn’t won a major by now, it’s hard to imagine he will ever get it done.

So in honor of Darren Clarke, Stewart Cink, Todd Hamilton and Ben Curtis, I’m predicting a winner that will have you scratching your head and saying, "Really?" on Sunday.